Preparation: Christmas concert is tonight at the high school (VIDEO)

It's been weeks in the making for the school staff and students, and tonight's the big night! The B-B-E high school will host their grades 6-12 Christmas music concert. It starts at 7 p.m. at Olson Auditorium.

THE LIVESTREAM LINK: https://www.youtube.com/live/gYrqC2B7Vo4.

Here's a video featuring tremendous talent shown by the K-3 students on December 3:


The elementary Christmas concert was called "Arctic Animal Antics" and was directed by Choir director Kathryn Freeman.

Today was pep fest day! And more (VIDEOS! Sports Show #8)

What an exciting time to be a part of the Jaguar Country community!! This is hard to beat! Our B-B-E Jaguars football team is gearing up for the state tournament for the second time in school history! Today they were part of two awesome, exciting pep fests held at both buildings. The schools also held wonderful Veterans Day programs.

Here's a short video clip from this afternoon's elementary school pep fest:


**Here's a "touchdown" dance (or dances) by Maximus Hanson, which officially concluded the excitement of the day!


Other video will be added later tonight, including another installation of my Fall Sports Shows!. It's still the work day! And there's musical coverage to continue working on.

*Here's the 8th sports show of this fall season...and I sure hope it continues!!!!


I'm at musical rehearsal tonight. The show is coming along nicely!!!! This is going to be exciting to watch.

UPDATE from the state volleyball tournament...West Central Area lost a 3-2 match in the state quarterfinals to fall into the consolation bracket. New Life Academy advances to face No. 1-seeded Russel-Tyler-Ruthton in the state semis. WCA faces Section 5A champion Pine River-Backus in the consolation semifinals at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Xcel Energy Center. NLA won game five by a 15-12 margin. Mya Foslien led the Knights with a 28-kill performance. The match was incredibly close. One example: both teams had 21 attacks in game five and just two attack errors each. The difference was who finished better: NLA had 11 kills on their 21 attacks (43%), while WCA had 7 kills on their 21 attacks (24%). It's very, very tough to lose a set when you have a solid 24 percent hitting ratio in volleyball.

The other upper seeds in Class 1A all won via sweep: R-T-R, Mayer Lutheran and Mabel-Canton. In their quarterfinal match, R-T-R overwhelmed PR-B with 40 kills compared to just 17 by Tigers hitters.

(VIDEO) Construction progress at the elementary

Now I take a brief pause in sports reporting to bring you this video clip. It's "tangentially" related to sports reporting...see below.


This video was taken on Monday, December 28. That week the school was closed - both K-6 and the Jaguar Kids Connection programming. You can also see for a few seconds the work being done on Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin's house. That week they got a new roof! Everyone was so terribly excited and happy for them after what they endured on Halloween Night.

Some of you may recall that Mr. Goodwin is a retired coach at B-B-E who coached a long, LONG list of athletic teams across numerous sports in the Brooten Buccaneer and B-B-E Jaguar athletic programs. He became head coach of the Brooten boys' basketball program beginning in the 1984-1985 season. Mrs. Goodwin was a most loved and revered Home Economics teacher at Brooten and B-B-E high school. I don't remember the exact year, but in the late 1990s she was hired as Home Ec teacher at Sauk Centre high school, where she continues to work today.

(VIDEO) Christmas caroling at B-B-E elementary

Here's a video taken at B-B-E elementary school on Thursday, December 20, 2018

That was a fun afternoon! The band sounded magnificent!

(VIDEO) Elementary shows support

The B-B-E elementary showed their huge support for the state-bound B-B-E Jaguar wrestlers on Wednesday. School staff recorded video of kids cheering for the Jaguars, and students also created posters and banners for the Jaguars.

Below is a short video clip featuring some of the cheering that took place


Due to the threat of Influenza and other illnesses, the wrestlers did not attend in person. They are taking extra precautions to ensure their good health as they head to St. Paul and gear up for the Class 1A state tournament on Friday and Saturday in St. Paul.

THANK YOU Paul J. Gruber and Gruber Baling for helping to keep the lights on at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Website updated...and another church dinner!

We've finally gotten around to another round of updates at the Bonanza Valley Voice website. That's running "about a week" behind schedule.

https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

You can see video from Crow River Lutheran church, the B-B-E elementary school fire safety week and learn about an upcoming event at Central Square and Civic Center in Glenwood. And a host of other items to check out, including the Voice online photo gallery and the B-B-E area community calendar.

One item on the calendar, and one that was advertised with a print ad on page 4 this week, is today's pancake and sausage supper at St. Francis de Sales Catholic church in Belgrade. Head over with family and/or neighbors! Just $10 for adults - all you can eat!!

Off the top of my head, this is the second-to-last fall church event on the Bonanza Valley Voice schedule. The final one is one week from today at Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade. They will hold a soup/sandwich supper.

Time to head to church!


*Added Sunday night...here's video from the playoff opener on Friday:


Remember that the next round of volleyball playoffs has our B-B-E Jaguars traveling to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle high school for the semifinals in Sub-Section 5A-South! They faced Osakis with first serve at 6 p.m. Please spread the word!

Tuesday's playoff match will not be aired on the radio.

Summer meals in Brooten

The Tri-Valley summer meal program's hours of operation for breakfast, lunch and snack at the elementary school were published on page three of the May 30 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice (under Ramblings). This program is free to all children ages 0 to 18. (Yes, 18-year olds who just graduated are able to come and eat!)

I finally got my hands on the menu.

This is the lunch menu for today (Monday, June 10): kicken' chicken, brown rice, baked sweet potato, apple slices, milk.

Snack today: pineapple, whole grain goldfish, water.

Unfortunately, they serve just skim milk for kids ages two and older. I guess the adage holds, "beggars can't be choosers"

Menu for Tuesday, June 11:
*Breakfast: whole grain cereal, banana, milk
*Lunch: lasagna, vegetable, fruit, milk
*Snack: veggies (carrots & cauliflower) with hummus or cool cucumber dip, milk

Menu for Wednesday, June 12:

*Breakfast: whole grain toast w/ butter or WOW butter, peach halves, milk

*Lunch: bean taco, baby carrots, strawberry, milk

*Snack: low fat cheddar cheese, whole wheat Ritz crackers, water

...the menu for Thursday, June 13 and later will be published in this week's issue.

(VIDEOS) Blast from the past

Here's a short video clip taken on May 7, 2013 at the elementary school. It features the students in Mr. Hadley's sixth-grade section receiving their speech meet championship trophy.


They were a little excited for this! A picture from this scene was published on page 6 of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can see the camera flash from that photo in this video clip.


...and here's a basketball clip from January 2013. Austin Young is one of the players on the floor in the end of this half of basketball.


Have you been outside yet?

Bonanza Valley Days baseball!

What a day so far! The B-B-E 3rd-4th grade Jaguars baseball team is in the championship game of the Bonanza Valley Days tournament. They beat Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 11-6 in the opener, and then they defeated Minnewaska Area 8-3 in the semifinals.

Up next: New London-Spicer in the finals!

*Here's a web update by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper to check out:
http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2017/07/06/news/bonanza-valley-day-kicks-off-in-brooten/472.html

Good luck to the Elrosa Saints baseball team as they host Greenwald tonight at 8 p.m.!

(HD video) B-B-E vs. NL-S

...and this one was a dandy! Featured in the video below is the sixth grade championship from the B-B-E elementary youth basketball tournament held yesterday. Unfortunately, the Jaguars lost a cliffhanger by an 18-17 score. It was one of the finest youth basketball games I've ever seen. Both teams played hard-nosed basketball.


I'll have a game recap with action photos in the Jan. 21 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Jaguars wrestling clothing store

To place orders or learn more product details, go to:
http://eFlyerOrder.com/BBEJAGWRESTLING

Remember, the ordering deadline is November 3, 2015!

For pick up, you will need to get your order from Coach Mueller at the high school.

(Video) Critters & Company at B-B-E

Here's part of an anti-bullying presentation at the B-B-E elementary on Thursday this week:

Spring concert

And a band photo:

The B-B-E elementary school's fifth and sixth grade classes performed a Spring Concert today featuring both band and choir songs.

Here's video from the last two songs:


They did a fantastic job! And hats off to B-B-E music teachers, Ms. Sailor and Mr. Nelson!

Here's the Bonanza Valley Voice photo gallery with 60+ photos from the concert:
http://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2015-BBE-Bonanza-Valley-area-e/BBE-spring-56-grade-concert

Thank you Redhead Creamery for sponsoring this news!
http://redheadcreamery.com

And finally getting some promoting done on this upcoming event in Sunburg...mark your calendars! It looks like a good time on June 6...see all the details below:

Add caption

Christmas program video

Click on the link to see some video from today's elementary Christmas program:
http://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com/2014/12/video-elementary-christmas-program.html

**Athletic meeting is tonight

The curb is being poured today along the B-B-E elementary sidewalk.

The B-B-E elementary school is in the process of getting a brand new parking lot. I am excited! It's gonna look really, really sharp when it's done.

Don't forget about the Jaguar athletics program mandatory paperwork/rules-related meeting tonight at the elementary school at 8:15pm. It signals the start of the 2014-15 athletic season and the end of the summer of 2014! UGH!! It seems like summer just started about 3 weeks ago.

Wrestling state tournament

Eight of 21 Jaguar elementary wrestlers earned individual trips to the upcoming NYWA state tournament that will be held this weekend in Rochester. The elementary Jaguar wrestling team is competing in the team state tournament also in Rochester on Saturday and Sunday.

A day off

As you can tell, I haven't been on here since late Tuesday night. For the first time since a summer family vacation last year to Wisconsin Dells, I went a whole day without logging into here to write or post something. I truly took the day off. I didn't spent a minute doing anything work-related on the computer. In fact, I ended up spending many hours glued to the DVD player watching Season 4 of 24. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_(TV_series)  I made the mistake to think I could just watch the first two hours of Season 4 and then move on to something else. Nope!! That show is too addicting!! The end result was me getting a full day's worth break from work, which truly hasn't happened (not even on a day like Christmas day) since the first few days of last August.

I'm not sure how many people will read this, but I really want to share thoughts I had this morning while turning in a yearbook order at the B-B-E elementary school office. I noticed my former 4th grade teacher, Mr. Lundquist, walking down the hall with a couple students. He is a regular substitute teacher at B-B-E elementary who I've known since 1987. (Boy do I feel old!) We are truly blessed to have his experience, knowledge and compassion for students available long after he retired from being a full-time teacher. (Not sure when that was, but I think he started teaching at Brooten elementary in 1971.)

I just barely overheard him talking to the student to his left, and I honestly don't even remember exactly what they were saying. What stuck with me was how he was talking, how he asked questions and how he replied to what the student said. You couldn't help but notice how genuine and authentic he was. In today's fast-paced, technology-driven world, too often that type of human interaction seems to be missing.

Luckily it's not missing at B-B-E schools. Literally every day of the week I see or hear the actions and hard work of the staff (and I mean all staff from janitors, teachers, administrators, coaches, paras, cooks, etc.) and am overjoyed that our children can attend school here. If your family doesn't live here, or if your children aren't going to school here, you're missing out...just my humble opinion!

With that said here's a shameless plug for 24: Live Another Day ! http://www.fox.com/24-live-another-day/

How about that Pep Fest!!!

Elementary students were thrilled to get special "Jaguars on a stick" printouts from members of the teaching staff.

Was that awesome or what! I will get more photos and a link to the photo gallery posted later tonight...most likely well past most of you are in bed sleeping and resting up for tomorrow - a really really BIG day for Jaguar Country!!

Sauk Centre Herald photo gallery! 221 pictures:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-BBE-basketball-playoffs/Epic-BBE-State-Pep-Festsendoff

Youth basketball tournament underway

A large crowd of fans are on hand to watch the 5th-6th grade Jaguars boys' basketball tournament today at the elementary school. The tournament is the Jaguar basketball program's biggest fundraiser...it's the only one, too. The Jaguars have a 4th grade team in the 5th grade brackets, and that team lost 16-12 to K-M-S before beating up Albany 23-10. The 5th grade Jaguars lost to Hancock and Benson and will play Albany for 7th place at 13:15.

The 6th grade Jaguars lost their opener to Willmar Red and faces Kimball in the consolation bracket at 14:00.

I watched a very competitive game play out in the 6th grade gym, when Benson beat NL-S 28-24 in their opening game.

Come out and cheer on the kids while supporting a good cause! The sun is shining and beckoning you to leave your house.

At Renville County West today, the 8th grade boys' basketball Jaguars beat NL-S in their opener. Cool!  They won in the semis and will face BOLD in the championship.

The youth Jaguar wrestlers (elementary) are competing at a tournament in NLS today.

I will report more results later tonight.

6th grade girls win K-M-S tournament

An excited, proud group of 6th grade girls' basketball Jaguars gathered for a combined photo after they won the K-M-S tournament on Saturday.

Pretty amazing...the 6th grade girls' basketball Jaguars, split into two teams, battled through separate brackets of the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tournament on Saturday and ultimately met in the championship game.

It got even more interesting at that point. The championship game ended in a 12-12 tie, so instead of duking it out in an overtime period, they ultimately settled as co-champions while bringing the trophy home to display at the elementary trophy case. Nice work Jaguars!!!

Here's a run down of some of the scores:
The B-B-E Blue team beat Benson 27-10 in the opener and then Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 22-21 in a nailbiter in the semifinals to send them into the title game. The B-B-E Silver team clipped Dawson-Boyd 16-14 in the opener and then won by a wide margin in the semifinals to land a spot in the title game.